Summary: When we have opportunities to help resolve conflict, we need to make sure we are careful what we say lest we become a gas can instead of a blessing.

• In a world torn by conflict, we need folks who are willing to be Peacemakers.

• Christians are called to be those peacemakers.

• Conflict is a part of the world we now live in, but God needs us to stay above the fray.

• Last week we looked at the concept of trying to prevent conflict before it starts, but that cannot always happen, sometimes we forget about prevention and go right into conflict with others, but more times than not, we get pulled into the conflicts of others.

• What do you when that happens? How does a peacemaker make a positive difference once a conflict has already begun?

• What can you do as a Christian to help bring peace to a situation?

• When we get drawn into conflict situations, what we say, our words can either throw water on the fire or our words can throw gasoline on the fire.

• As peacemakers our goal should always be to try to help defuse the situation, so what we say and how we say it is very important.

• This is one of the most stressful part of counseling for me is realizing every word I say can start a new fire as I try to help put out the existing fire.

• Our goal is to do no harm, so in order to accomplish that goal we are going to think about the issues we will examine together this morning.

• These items give us something to think about before we speak, before we risk our words doing more harm than good.

• Ephesians 4:14 (ESV) so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. Will my words help one discern the truth from error?

• The context of this part of the chapter is something important for us to understand, in the previous verses starting in verse 11 Paul tells us that the church is given apostle, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, etc… for the building up the saints.

• Look at verses 12-13

• SLIDE #4

• Ephesians 4:12–13 (ESV) 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

• When we deal with people, when we get drawn into conflict and have the change to be a peacemaker, we need to realize our goal, we are trying to help people grow and mature in Christ.

• We are not trying to take sides, or help destroy others.

• Before we offer our two-cents or give counsel in these high-stress situations, we need to remember we are called to try to help put the fire out, not start another larger fire.

• That brings us to where we are with our first point.

• Many times conflict begins because one cannot discern the truth from error. Sometimes people get into conflict because one or both of the parties involved because they believe or following a false premise.

• In the direct context of the passage, people were being drawn into conflict because people believed what the false teachers were selling them, and then they would fight for and stand for things that were not true.

• Look at verse 14 again.

• SLIDE #5

• Ephesians 4:14 (ESV) so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

• One of the ways people are harmed is by falling for false information.

• When people get caught up in things that are not true, they get hurt.

• We need to make sure that we do what we can do to try to guide people in the way of truth.

• For an individual to be properly equipped and functioning in the body, they need to develop the ability to discriminate between truth and error. This is one of the significant results of growth and maturity.

• When we look at a situation and see that someone has fallen prey to false teachings, we need make sure our words promote the truth.

• When people fall for things that are not true, they can get tossed about from one position to another because they are not anchored to the truth.

• The image used in our passage is one of a ship in the midst of a storm in which the ship was no longer under the control of the captain.